Things Were Never The Same
by GhostlyMayhem
Summary: "...Sometimes things just don't work out..." Celestia breaks the news to her daughter that her father, Discord, isn't coming home, but leaves out a few painful details along the way. AU one-shot where Celestia is Screwball's mother. Past!Discord/Celestia. AU AU AU AU. Rated T for language, on Discord's part.


**...**

**Things Were Never The Same**

**...**

_"See that?"_

_From the top of Canterlot's castle balcony, the draconequus pointed out with one finger of his talon toward the distance, where the sun stood high in the air and it's light touched every part of the land. His young daughter's swirl eyes widened with curiosity and wonder._

_"All of that will be yours one day."_

_She glanced up at her father, smiling widely. "Everything the light touches?"_

_He nodded, chuckling as he ruffled her purple and white curled mane. "Yes, my dear. Everything the light touches is yours to fuck up-"_

_A white alicorn caught on to what he was about to say, though was much to late to interrupt before he could finish. "DISCORD!" She stomped up angrily beside him._

_"Oh lighten up, Tia," the draconequus teased, rolling his eyes. "She is the daughter of chaos, after all. Born from MY magic."_

_"AND my magic," his mate added, shooting him an annoyed glare, "Lease you forget. She is the daughter of harmony as well."_

_He simply scoffed, but threw an arm around her slender, swan-like neck and placed a small peck on her cheek. "Yeah, well..." he paused. "... I don't have a good comeback at the moment. But mark my words I will think of something and we'll continue this argument later!"_

_The alicorn simply rolled her eyes, but nuzzled him anyway. "Sure you will." She smirked and pressed her lips against his in a light kiss._

_And their daughter simply watched them, a happy smile on her face. Life to the purple filly didn't seem like it would get any better than it was at that moment. Everything was already so brilliantly perfect for her. She lived a perfect life, with a perfect family and a perfect set of parents who loved each other. She was certain it would never end..._

* * *

When Screwball opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was her mother, staring down at her with those kind, gentle lavender eyes. She blinked drowsily. "...M-Mommy...?"

Celestia's reassuring smile had a slight tinge of sadness, one that was both noticeable to her filly yet at the same time a mystery. "...Did you sleep well, dear?"

There was only one alarming question on Screwball's mind. "Where's daddy?"

The smile on Celestia's face lowered, taken completely over by the overwhelming guilt and sadness surging through her very soul. "...What do you remember last?"

Chaos. Such an alarming rate of chaos that even the normally chaos-loving filly couldn't handle it all. So much chaos that during the short reign of her father, she had slowly slipped away into darkness, falling asleep as the tension between her mother and father unknowingly (to her) grew. "...Daddy spreading chaos... And then..."

"...You feel asleep?"

Screwball nodded tiredly.

Celestia felt another twinge of guilt. The reason Screwball had fallen asleep just as the confrontation between her mother and father was about to begin was because Celestia had placed a sleeping spell on her. After what ended up happening to Discord in the aftermath of the confrontation... putting her daughter to sleep, by force, felt necessary in the end. But it didn't rid the guilt.

"...Where's daddy?" Screwball repeated, a bit more groggy than before.

The alicorn felt her heart clench painfully tight in her chest. "...Sometimes things just don't work out."

Screwball sat up a little in her bed, curious and confused about what her mother's words meant. "What do you mean?"

Celestia lowered her eyes. "...Sometimes when two ponies love each other very much, things don't always work out, and things can fall apart no matter how strong that love seems."

"But what about all those fairy tales?" The filly wondered aloud. "They all had happy endings..."

"...Not all fairy tales have happy endings..." her mother sighed, keeping her gaze lowered.

"Didn't you have a happy ending with daddy?"

That did it. Celestia's throat tightened as tears stung her eyes, threatening to spill over. "...I thought we did. But... I... I guess I... thought wrong..."

Screwball blinked, the understanding of her mother's words slowly sinking in. "...so... Daddy is...?"

"Your daddy is..." Celestia searched her brain for the right word that a filly could understand. Deep down, she wanted to say that Discord had died, but that was far from the truth, and she was sure her filly was smart enough to smell the lie. "...gone..."

_Gone._ Being a filly, Screwball associated the word _'gone'_ with _'never coming back'._ And to her knowledge, _'never coming back'_ usually meant... _death._

Her daddy was never coming back. That realization hit her like a ton of bricks. Tears built up in her swirl eyes and began to spill over as a small whimper followed by a sob escaped her throat. She collapsed back against her bed, curling up into a ball as she wept softly.

Celestia leaned forward, nuzzling the crying filly with her head in a comforting manner. Knowing that her lover and her best friend was gone, and that her filly would grow up without a father... it didn't take long for Celestia to start crying too.

* * *

**A/N: AU AU AU AU AU AU AU. Do I need to repeat myself? This is AU!**

**This AU is basically a 'what if' where Celestia's magic and Discord's magic came together and formed Screwball, making Celestia her mother. And this takes place after Discord was encased in stone the first time.**

**OMG "Keep Calm and Flutter On" was AMAZING! Fluttershy and Discord's friendship was absolutely adorable, and Discord was cute as always. X3 I honestly hoped for two things (out of three) that I wanted to happen but didn't happen.**

**1. Discord to become badass and save Fluttershy from something. I love seeing my favorite characters become action-y.**

**2. A Fluttershy and Discord duet. Or any singing in general. Don't ask why. XD**

**3. A flashback with Discord and Celestia where they were once friends. At least we got SOME Dislestia in the end. X3**

**Ultimately the only thing that happened that I wanted to have happen was that Discord wasn't encased in stone again. Meaning that he'll probably be a reoccurring character! :D :D :D**

**Omg, I just... I loved that episode so much. X)**

**So yeah, please review if you liked it! :) And remember: this is ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSE, AKA a "What if" one-shot. Yup.**


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